Monday, November 25, 2013

Week 14: Single Mom

This week, Papa Bear went to a conference, leaving me and Lemon home by ourselves for 5 days and 4 nights. Going in to Papa Bear's absence, I was calm and confident. After all, I figured, despite the fact that we aim to be a pretty egalitarian household, I do at least 75% of the child care stuff. So, I didn't think that being solo would really feel that different. I mean, tired is tired, right? WRONG. That 25% that Papa Bear handles is clearly the buffer that is saving me from total disintegration. Thankfully, with help from Nona and visits from a few friends, we made it through.

I didn't cook anything more complex than a can of tomato soup, let the house fall into a state of severe disarray, and only barely prevented the cats from dying of either starvation or dehydration (good thing evolution equipped them with the ability to make noise!). I believe I washed my hair exactly once, and only managed that since Nona was there. I have absolutely no idea how anyone manages to be a single parent full time. It is an astonishing act of strength and will that should command our utmost respect.

Due to the extenuating circumstances, this week's post will be relatively short, and heavy on photos. For example, Lemon in the bath tub. Is there anything cuter? I didn't think so.

Lemon has just completed Phase II of babyhood, as defined by Burton White. One of the things White identifies as an indicator of the end of Phase II is "hand regard," when babies stare at their hands and slowly come to understand that the hands belong to them. Lemon has his own take on this: foot regard. He has no real interest in his hands yet, but those little feet are just the right distance from the eyes to be easy to focus on, and they sure move around a lot.

While it may be too recent a phenomenon to be covered in White's book, the end of Phase II also seems to be accompanied by what I will refer to as "screen awareness." We are in trouble.

Lemon has also become a lot more vocal in the last few days, adding a variety of high-pitched squeaks and squeals to his vocabulary. One of the best ways to elicit these, we discovered, is to sing to him. Here is a little video clip of Lemon with my dear childhood friend Jen, demonstrating his growing enthusiasm for music!